As the free agent camp closes, Mike Moustakas reaches a deal with his former team, the Royals:

Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Passan reported on Thursday night that Moustakas agreed to a one-year deal with a mutual second-year option worth up to $22.7 million, pending a physical. Passan reported the contract is for $5.5 million for 2018 with up to $2.2 million in incentives and a $1 million buyout on a $15 million option for 2019.

The Royals would not confirm the details. But the club has never shut down the possibility of bringing back Moustakas, last year’s American League Comeback Player of the Year, at the right price.

Moustakas did turn down the Royals qualifying offer, leading to the tweet of the day:

Royals front office now, after he turned down 1 year $17m qualifying offer pic.twitter.com/OYQ5I3fdp3

— Jose Ayeeee (@jaahapp_y) March 9, 2018

Moustakas averaged about 2.3 fWAR over the last three seasons. He will play 2018 as a 29-year-old, so he is still in his prime. He probably should have received at least a five-year, $80 million contract. His WAR is volatile, however, and his defense slipped in 2018. I don’t know if either of those things mattered this off-season.

If MLB is going to make a collusion case, Moustakas is going to be the poster child. If this is just the way the market is know, Moustakas is one of the unluckiest free agents in baseball history. It may be telling, however, that the Brewers, Yankees, and White Sox were not willing to beat that offer by enough to make Moustakas leave Kansas City.

Update: Here is Jeff Sullivan at FanGraphs on why the Moustakas market didn’t develop.